Eyes Like Knives
by Mahayana
Summary: The boy has eyes red like wine. Empty. Like there's something missing in him. Kaiba thinks they look like the eyes of a murderer. Early manga-verse/season zero, revenge and card games.


_Summary: The boy has eyes red like wine. Empty. Like there's something missing in him. Kaiba thinks they look like the eyes of a murderer. Early manga-verse/season zero, revenge and card games. _

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><p><strong>Eyes Like Knives<strong>

by Mahayana

There's a slight breeze whispering through his room. Kaiba sits up in his bed, humidity sticking to his skin like a wet blanket, and listens to the crickets chirp outside his window. His room is pitch black, not even the lamps outside his mansion are penetrating the darkness like they usually do. Kaiba looks around the room. He can feel his pupils dilating, trying to accustom themselves to the lack of light. He doesn't remember leaving the window open.

"Are you finally awake?"

Kaiba whirls around, his sheets tangling around his naked torso. He can't see anything, but he can follow the voice. It's close. It's—

"You don't have to worry."

The bed dips beside him. He can feel the pressure of another human body in the air. The heat radiating from it is making the hairs on his arms stand up. A lighter flicks to life in front of his face.

"I'm only here to play a game with you," the boy across from him whispers. The fire reflects like pinpricks in his red eyes. He looks vaguely familiar. Kaiba knits his brows trying to discern his features. But he can't see much. The orange glow of the lighter only catches the curve of a cheek, the tip of the nose, and the sharp edge of a lip.

"Who are you?" Kaiba growls. He's not accustomed to waking up with strangers in his bedroom. That's what the guards stationed around the perimeter are for. Useless guards, apparently.

"Who am I?" the boy chuckles, a dark sound, like the still bottom of a lake. "Who I am has never mattered. It doesn't matter now. What you should be asking is what am I here for."

Kaiba narrows his eyes. "Do you want money? Is that what this is about?" He tightens his fists. He's had his share of attempted kidnappings and blackmail. He knows how to deal with them.

"Oh no," the boy breathes, leaning in. "I am not interested in your money. I am here to take something back that you stole." The flame of the lighter bobs and flickers as the boy readjusts his perch on the bed. Kaiba catches a glimpse of spiked hair and metal.

He scowls through the darkness. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kaiba can hear the boy's soft exhale as he scoffs. "How unsurprising. Forgetting other people's misery so easily." The boy's red stare pins him to the bed. "I'm here for the Blue Eyes, Kaiba."

Kaiba's fists tighten in his sheets reflexively. "I have more than one," he growls.

"I know. I'm only here for the one you took from my grandfather."

"The old man?" Kaiba laughs. "You can't prove anything."

The boy's eyes narrow like knives. "I challenge you to a game," he demands, and the darkness around him solidifies. Kaiba feels it crawling spider-like along his skin.

"Come back in the morning and make an appointment with my secretary. It's too late at night for your childish games. Fuck off."

The boy smiles. "It's too late to refuse now. The game's already started. Quitting now means you forfeit your victory, and I win."

"And you think I care about beating a nobody at some game in the middle of the night?" Kaiba doesn't know who this guy is, but he's itching to call security on him and get him out of his bedroom already. He just wants to go back to sleep.

"Forfeiting means death." And just like that, Kaiba feels the kiss of a revolver against his adam's apple. He swallows. The boy is certifiably insane. And dangerous.

"Fine," he says. "And if I win, you get the fuck out of my house."

The boy lifts the revolver up with practiced ease. "If you win, you can kill me if you like."

Definitely insane. "Fine, whatever. What game is it you wanted to play. Duel Monsters?"

The boy chuckles. "No, not quite Duel Monsters. We'll call it a variant."

There is another shift of the mattress, and suddenly the boy in front of him is gone, the flame of the lighter abruptly extinguished like a life. It flicks back on again a few feet from his bed, over where his gaming table should be.

"Come join me, Kaiba. We'll play here." The unsteady flame of the lighter burns onto a candle, solidifying and brightening. Kaiba can see now that the boy is short, lithe, and that he goes to his school. He recognizes the white cut of the uniform shirt.

"Are you Mutou Yugi?" Kaiba hazards. The timid boy from his class is nothing like this one, but their physical resemblance…

"No," the boy says and pulls out his deck. "Mutou Yugi is somebody else. But I am here because you have trespassed into his heart."

Kaiba frowns, that is the dumbest thing he's ever heard. He throws his bed sheets aside. "Get your deck," the boy instructs, but Kaiba is one step ahead already pulling his deck out of his nightstand.

"The game we'll play goes like this," the boy lays his cards down flat on the table. Kaiba studies his features by candlelight. There's something odd about the boy's eyes. They're too slanted, too sharp. The boy looks up at him from behind thick lashes, his irises red like wine, and Kaiba can feel a chill going down his spine. Those eyes are unnerving. Empty. Like there's something missing in them. He thinks that they look like the eyes of a murderer; but he dismisses that thought as melodramatic and sits down at the table. The boy joins him. He takes his own deck and Kaiba's and shuffles them together. Kaiba reaches across the table to stop him.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

"Explaining the rules," the boy continues as he expertly fans out the mixed cards face-down on to the candle-lit tabletop. "Each one of us takes turns declaring a card type: monster, magic, or trap, then flipping up a random card on the table. If the declared type matches the card we flipped over, then we can choose to play it. If it doesn't match, then we turn it back over and it's the opponent's turn."

Kaiba scoffs. "Is this all there is to it? A pure game of memory?"

The boy looks smug. "No, there's more," his eyes flicker to the revolver lying by the candle-stand. Kaiba's mouth tightens. "Whenever we draw an opponent's card, the opponent has the right to shoot the revolver at the other player. The revolver can be aimed at any body part, including the head and the heart. However, there's only one bullet in the gun."

"So it's Russian roulette," Kaiba is impatient. He wants to get this over with.

"Basically," the boy doesn't seem to be in a hurry. He should be. He's not in his own home, he could get caught at any time. "Whoever gets shot first loses, or whoever gets to zero life points first loses. We start out with 2000 life points."

Kaiba nods and places his hand on a card, taking the initiative. "Monster card," he declares and flips it over. It's a trap card, and it's one of his own. He flips the card back and looks expectantly at the boy.

"Monster card," the boy declares and flips another card face up. It's Ghost. A weak monster with only 150 attack and 50 defense.

"I place Ghost in defense mode."

"Monster card," Kaiba tries again, and picks a card to the far left of the card pool. It's the Battle Ox. Kaiba's smirk feels like it could split his face. Ghost has 50 defense, Battle Ox has 2400 attack.

"I place Battle Ox in attack mode, and I attack Ghost."

Kaiba can feel something moving in the air above his head. The air vibrates with a soundless roar and hoof beats, but the meek candlelight can't reach. He stares at the space above his head blind. He can feel the fine hairs on his head stir. Yugi flinches when the commotion above them comes to a conclusion, as if struck.

"I take no damage, since my card was defending. Magic card," he continues, and flips up a card in the very center of the pile. It's Miraculous Water. The boy's eyes bore straight into Kaiba's. "Miraculous Water enables me to destroy one monster card on the field. I destroy your Battle Ox."

There is a soundless explosion above their heads, like someone uncorking a bottle of compressed air. Kaiba feels it in the marrow of his bones.

"What the hell was that?" he demands, shaken.

"Oh, didn't I mention? We're playing a shadow game. All damage in this game is real."

Kaiba stares at the boy as if he'd just spoken gibberish.

"Monster card," he continues, choosing to ignore the nonsense, and flips up a card directly in front of the boy. It's Dark Zola. 1500 attack. The boy has no monsters protecting him.

"Attack mode. Direct attack." Again, Kaiba can feel something moving above their heads. A violent battle, and 1500 of the boy's life points are gone just like that. The boy gasps and crumples over the table, his head nearly hitting the wood from the force of his fall. He breathes hard for a moment, sucking in deep gulps of air though his nose.

"Monster card," the boy grinds out from between gritted teeth, and flips up the card right next to Dark Zola with a shaking hand. It's Neon Knight. The boy takes another deep breath, this one filled with relief. Neon Knight has 2000 attack. "Neon Knight attacks Dark Zola. You take 500 damage."

Kaiba's insides feel like someone is shredding them with scissors. He clutches his gut as the damage takes effect, but refuses to show any more signs of weakness. He still has 1500 life points left. The boy is already down to his last 500. He can win this. If only he can draw…

"Monster card," Kaiba roars. The card he flips up is a magic card.

The boy's eyes twinkle in the candlelight. Kaiba now has no monsters left to protect him. "Neon Knight, attack."

Neon Knight has 2000 attack, Kaiba thinks. If he's hit… "TRAP CARD," he roars out in desperation and flips up the card right in front of him. It's Negate Attack. The commotion above their heads halts abruptly. Kaiba breaks out in a cold sweat. That was too close. If that card hadn't…

The boy scowls at him. "Monster card," he murmurs and flips up a card by the candle stand. Kaiba can't believe his eyes. It's Blue Eyes White Dragon. Kaiba's card. Kaiba bears his teeth in a savage grin and reaches for the revolver, placing it square against the boy's forehead. The boy doesn't resist, only continues to stare at him with those unnerving, red eyes.

"Are you ready to die?" Kaiba gloats, eyes wide and vicious. "You drew my card. That was the end of your luck. Tell your grandfather in hell that he's not worthy of holding a Blue Eyes White Dragon. He'll be following you shortly." Kaiba squeezes the trigger. The hammer pulls back, strains against the mechanism, before falling decisively towards the cylinder. Kaiba can already taste his victory. The hammer gets stuck half-way, jammed by unseen forces. Kaiba gapes. Dark red eyes stare calmly up at him from under the barrel of the gun. A white mist starts gathering above the boy's head like a halo.

"Kaiba…" the boy hisses between sharp teeth. "This isn't YOUR Blue Eyes White Dragon, it's my grandfather's. This doesn't belong to you." Kaiba can see it now, the clear shape of a dragon forming above the boy's head. Fangs bared at Kaiba. It's beautiful. The sight makes something clench in his chest.

"You tried to cheat, tried to kill me for choosing my own card," the boy is angry, his voice is low and dangerous. "For trespassing onto my heart, and for stealing my grandfather's card, you will receive a punishment game." But Kaiba is not listening; he's transfixed by the candle-lit image of the dragon swirling around the boy's hair. Twirling between the spiky strands of hair like a water-snake in sea grass. Yes, Kaiba thinks absently, with hair like that, the boy must be Mutou Yugi despite what he says. He feels two gentle fingers pressed against his naked chest. He looks down. The boy's hand is in the shape of a gun, two fingers out, two in, thumb out. He meets the boy's empty eyes calmly. The white dragon is still twining itself in the space between them.

"Punishment game," the boy whispers, and Kaiba's world goes black.

_**Author's Notes:**_

_I've been re-reading the Yugioh manga recently. And to my never-ending amusement I've noticed that Yami/Atem's eyes ACTUALLY get described by people as looking like "those of a murderer". Specifically, Mai calls them that. And then my mind ran away with that image. _

_Damn it season zero Yami Yugi, why so attractive yet insane?_

_Excuse this fic being currently a little bit unpolished. I rushed to get this done for a contest. What you're NOT seeing are the OTHER 2000+ words I wrote for this, and then realized "oh wait, the fic doesn't actually need that set-up in order to say what I want it to say". Ah well. Maybe I'll upload the extra stuff as an optional chapter later on or something. It has Kaiba pushing people into urinals and being a general douche to little children. :D; Also, Pegasus being psychic. _

_Writing card games is hard. :D; Even if they're the crappy card games from season zero where nobody has trap cards and monster effects/attacks are arbitrary. Excuse me while I don't follow all those rules specifically either. (ahem I think canonically "Ghost" cannot be affected by physical attacks, but whatever. His card on wikia said nothing about it. ;P) _

_Concept of "Memory" Duel Monsters stolen from a 5D's episode. Thanks 5D's!_

_How's my driving? Tell me what you think!_


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